Hobby hunting in Italy: 2025/26 season threatens wildlife

On Sunday, 21 September 2025, one hour before sunrise, the starting gun fires for Italy’s 2025/26 hunting season. Yet rather than representing regulated nature management, all signs point once again to an opening that primarily serves the power of well-organized lobbies — at the expense of wildlife, biodiversity, and European nature conservation law.

Editorial team Wild beim Wild — 19 September 2025

Liguria, Lombardy, Campania and the Province of Trento have once again introduced partially controversial special regulations for hobby hunters this year: chaffinches and starlings are to be permitted as quarry in October and November — species that are in principle protected under EU Birds Directive 2009/147/EC.

The Commission and environmental organisations are already preparing legal action. As early as June, the Conference of Regions had authorised the hunting of 581’000 chaffinches nationwide for recreational hunting — a decision that critics regard as an open disregard for previous rulings of the European Court of Justice.

Hunting at mountain passes permitted again

Particularly contentious is the law on the “promotion of mountain areas” adopted on 12 September. It relaxes the previously applicable hunting ban within a radius of 1’000 metres around mountain passes — zones that are traditionally important corridors for migratory birds. Instead of comprehensive protection, only a five-day hunting ban per week in January now applies. At the same time, parliament has redefined “mountain passes” so that lower-lying areas may also be hunted in future. Conservationists warn of a massive expansion of hunting stations and an increased risk to migratory birds of European and international significance.

Weakened enforcement

While regional administrative courts in Veneto and Marche have halted parts of their hunting calendars under pressure from environmental organizations, state oversight bodies remain severely understaffed. Since the “Madia Decree” of 2015, hunting patrols have been drastically reduced, and staffing has never been replenished. Illegal hunting and violations are therefore difficult to prosecute.

The political majority in the Roman parliament is meanwhile working on a further weakening of the framework law on hunting. The current draft law No. 1552 proposes

to facilitate the use of live decoy birds,
to reduce the share of nature parks,
to permit night-vision devices (hitherto prohibited under the Bern Convention),
to open state forests for hunting, and
to abolish the existing obligation to choose an exclusive form of hunting.

Environmentalists speak of a “free pass for hunting tourism” that promotes hunting nomadism and wildlife across Italy under pressure.

Between lobbying interests and natural heritage

With 450’000 registered hobby hunters, Italy is one of the most hunting-intensive countries in Europe. Critics see the current trend not as sustainable wildlife management, but as an increasingly industrial, consumption-oriented exploitation of nature. “Hunting is becoming a foreign body in rural areas,” warns a spokesperson for WWF Italy. “What is defended as tradition is often nothing more than an anachronistic pastime with grave consequences for our ecosystems,” writes LAC in a press release.

Autumn 2025 could thus become a litmus test for Italy’s nature conservation — and for the question of whether European legal standards can truly withstand the pressure of powerful lobbying interests.

Photo and video by LAC

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